"California during the Mexican era (1822-1847) was famous for its horsemen, but it's less well known that many Californo women also rode. Often, the woman was placed in the saddle while the man rode pillion behind. A painting made in Monterey shows a typical couple, with the young woman sitting on the saddle while facing the right hand, or "off side" of the horse, and the man rides behind her on a half moon shaped piece of leather called the anquerita.
But an unknown number of Californio women also rode by themselves and several foreign observers were impressed by their skill and daring as horsewomen. Normally, they rode sidesaddle. The French diplomat Eugène Duflot de Mofras, who was in California in the early-1840s wrote, "Men's saddles are used by the women but are so arranged that a longer stirrup, attached by means of a strap to the pommel of the saddle, is available for the left foot." To use this, the woman would have to ride facing to the right, unlike a modern sidesaddle, where the rider faces to her left. It's hard to know how many Californian women rode astride, or on what occasions, but the American sea captain Benjamin Morrell wrote after a visit to San Diego in 1825,
The females have generally fine forms, and expressive countenances . . . They also delight in equestrian exercises, and usually honour each side of the horse with a beautiful little foot and ankle…"
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